My Rural Connection
Vocal For Local: An alliance with millets
The COVID-19 lockdown taught me to depend on staples that did not include the usual processed stuff I pulled off the shelves indiscriminately at a supermarket. The year of the pandemic has taught me some lessons about food love.
Pankaja Srinivasan
The Nakima Chronicles: A Sikkim treat that charms gourmands
It’s the season for the rare, slightly bitter flower-vegetable with a sweet aftertaste. Local people make a beeline in front of vendors selling it in Gangtok. And, there’s a recipe too.
Satyadeep Chhetri
Something amiss: Why has rural India gone missing from the Hindi cinema?
Unlike earlier times, when parallel cinema served as a mirror to our sociopolitical systems, now the rural society is often put at the feet of the urbanising and globalising world in movies.
Anjali Sharma
Bundelkhand’s tribal families turn to tendu leaves to earn a living
Tribal families of Bundelkhand used to earn a living by selling firewood from the jungles. The lockdown shattered this source of income. They now depend on sale of tendu leaves.
Arvind Singh Parmar
Archery then and now: How tribal communities in Tripura used one of the oldest known weapons
In the history of the tribal people of Tripura, the bow and arrow were one of the most commonly used weapons. Here’s how it has survived until today.
Samir Debbarma
During the lockdown, this school teacher decorated the walls of his house with Warli paintings
Tulsi Patel, a drawing teacher working in a school in Surat, moved to his village in the neighbouring district during the lockdown. This is how the couple decorated their village home
Swati Subhedar
A veteran artist is using traditional Phad paintings to raise awareness on COVID-19 in Rajasthan
A visual treat to anyone who lays his/her eyes on it, Phad is a form of scroll painting which has, over the centuries, narrated stories to people in village gatherings. Now, Kalyan Joshi, a veteran of the Phad art form, is using his scrolls to narrate stories about the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown
Azera Parveen Rahman
Bundelkhand and the lockdown: Stories of struggle and heartbreak. A photo essay
People living in Bundelkhand have been dealing with many issues like water scarcity, no job opportunities and migration for years. But, It will take them a while to recover from the lockdown
Yash Sachdev
Remember the sarauta, the dibri, the silbatta? These forgotten words came to life recently!
Storyteller Neelesh Misra tweeted a picture of sarauta recently. This single Tweet opened up a spectacular cascade of memories and Twitter users recalled many forgotten words
Jamshed Qamar Siddiqui
“The colourful Dhokra artifacts that narrate mythological tales are very fascinating”
I was at the Raipur airport recently. This particular art piece attracted me as it was very vibrant and colourful. When I looked closely, I realised it was narrating a tale from the Ramayana!